I’ve Been Working on the Atoka Railroad Adventure!

Minigolf, bumper cars, train rides, arcade games, Ferris wheel rides, rock wall climbing, and bouncy house jumping; all these things and more can be found at the one, the only Atoka Railroad Adventure. In Atoka, you can find yourself in a world of Mr. Jim Brown’s creation with only the best attractions at your feet, ready for you to have fun and explore. 

Started in 2015, the dream was simple, Ola, Mr. Brown’s wife, wanted family-oriented activities in Tipton County; eliminating the 40-minute or so drive to Memphis. Sadly, Ola passed away before seeing her dream for Atoka come true. Mr. Brown, however, knew how much it would mean to her, so he upholds and continues finishing her vision. 

One of the best stories you’ll hear is about Ola and Mr. Brown’s love of mini-golf. Donna Fisher, the manager of Atoka Railroad Adventure, gave us the whole story, “Mr. Brown and his wife would travel all over the place, even to other countries, so the first thing they would do is find their hotel, go out to eat, and when they’d come back, they would look for a mini-golf place. That’s something they really enjoyed doing together, and I’m talking about them doing it in other countries, not just the United States! Everywhere they went they would play a game of mini-golf. This was before they had even thought about something like Atoka Railroad. The way he describes it, they went and played every time they went out of town. I think it’s just a precious story.”

Mr. Brown keeps the community in mind when designing the adventures. Atoka Railroad was built from two main goals: family fun and creating adventures. He provides ideas that make Atoka Railroad as fun as possible for everyone who comes and visits. Donna is right there along with him, keeping everything running properly. It’s this passion, in the both of them, that’s allowed Atoka Railroad Adventure to have everything it does. The Ferris Wheel is one of those intuitive pieces that Mr. Brown has found. Donna explained, “Mr. Brown has a broker that looks for things out there, you know, different attractions and things like that. His broker had mentioned to him that there was an older style Ferris wheel in Atlanta, Georgia. So, he decided to take a trip and not knowing any of the facts about the Ferris wheel or anything, he had to go see it. When he went to look at  the guy told him the history and he bought the Ferris wheel.” Well as it turns out, this Ferris wheel, in particular, was in season seven of Walking Dead. It’s the very same Ferris wheel Rick climbs up and then slips off of it into an approaching horde of zombies—or walkers as they call them in the show. So if you’re a Walking Dead fan, you’re sure going to want to head over and see it in person! The lights, the seats, everything is in perfect working condition so come by and take a ride, but watch out for approaching zombie hordes!

Another exciting goal that Atoka Railroad began has been on Mr. Brown’s mind for a while. The lake. It’s “been a vision since the very beginning,” Donna revealed. “Mr. Brown has wanted to buy that pond down there. Now it's being made into a lake— the deepest part is gonna be 24 feet deep, and we're going to have bumper boats.” That’s right! Instead of an outdoor pool like most places have for bumper boats, Atoka Railroad is going all-natural with a lake! The pre-existing pond has been deepened and built up to expand all the way around. But that’s not all that they’re planning, “We are not only going to have the bumper boats, we're also putting that picnic area out there that's going to be free to the public. Our train has this little track right around the mini-golf course,” but after the lake is finished, “the train is going to detour and go all the way around the lake, and then back up here so it's going to be a much longer train ride, which is also something Mr. Brown’s very passionate about. It’s going to go all the way around the lake. Plus we're going to have the option to get you a train ride down to the picnic area with all your stuff. After you’re done you'll just call us to pick you up.” 

Donna mentioned that “my favorite part is seeing Mr. Brown happy. He loves seeing the development of it all.” Attraction wise? Well, everyone has their own favorite. Mr. Brown loves the train, the employees, probably the bumper cars, but Donna is partial to the ‘Airplane’ VIP Party room that’s under construction. “That’s my baby,” she told us. “I've been waiting on that for a while, because of the personalness of it. It's really not a room like we have downstairs for parties. Everybody is going to be contained in this one little airplane right here. And it's going to be so personal, you know, for a party and so exciting for children that have never been on a plane but they see it in the movies and stuff. Basically, besides the take-off and landing, they're sitting in a real airplane. Our goal is to be the best we can be in serving the community.”  The Airplane VIP room is an actual section from a 737, including seats with added video screens behind the seats and the fold-up trays for food and now birthday cake. Plans are continuing to grow, as well—you never know what will pop up next!

If you’re interested in seeing Mr. Brown’s Atoka Railroad Adventure and seeing Donna’s favorite ‘airplane’ too, check out their Facebook page: Atoka's Railroad Adventure Plus. They can also be reached at (901) 483-8888. Atoka Railroad Adventure is open all year round, so be sure to check their hours on Facebook or call in advance. They are right off of Highway 51, at the north end of Atoka. Their address is 110 Micheal Ave, Atoka, Tennessee.